Student Covers Herself in Chick-Fil-A in the Name of Art

Is it art or is it a meal? Technically, it’s both as an art student at Texas State University covered herself in Chick-Fil-A as she attempted to make a statement about the college culture of hooking up.

Senior studio art major Monika Rostvold stripped down to her skivvies, laid out on some tables and covered herself in Chick-Fil-A waffle fries and ketchup on Tuesday around lunch time for the performance art piece. “I decided to relate (the piece) to food (to compare) the satisfaction we get with food to the satisfaction we get with hooking up,” Rostvold told USA Today College about her work, which she called “All You Can Eat.” She also compared the piece to the Japanese practice of Nyotaimori, or body sushi, where people literally eat off a naked woman.

Rostvold’s hope is that her work can create “an open debate and discussion” about dating and hooking up. “[The culture is] very satisfying, but is it healthy? Is it really what we want? That’s what I’m asking the audience,” she said. “I know fast food and the body is hard to connect, but to me it just made sense.” Actually, fast food and the body seem to connect a lot, considering fast food chains take a lot of the blame for America’s obesity epidemic. Maybe that fits into the piece somehow? I’ll have to read the accompanying thesis paper.

Whether other Texas State students caught onto the message, though, is as up for debate as the issue itself. In a video on Twitter, students could be heard mainly laughing at the stunt. Another tweeter wondered if Rostvold was simply drunk. There is no indication that she was, but maybe that was a mistake. Everyone knows Chick-Fil-A tastes better when you’re tipsy.